The Government has introduced two key bills into Parliament this morning on the eve of a fortnight's break - one to increase the Medicare levy to help pay for the national disability insurance scheme; the other, legislation allowing the roll out of the Coalition's so-called 'cashless welfare card' into new communities.

The system, currently being trialled in Ceduna in South Australia and in East Kimberley in Western Australia, quarantines 80 per cent of welfare payments for food and other essential items so the money can not be used to buy alcohol or fund gambling.

Human Services Minister Alan Tudge told AM's Sabra Lane the program is having an effect already and would be rolled out in communities where there is a demonstrable need.

Duration: 5min 51sec

Broadcast:
Thu 17 Aug 2017, 8:03am

More Information

Featured:

Alan Tudge, Human Services Minister

Transcript

plusminus

SABRA LANE: Federal Parliament is scheduled to rise tonight for a fortnight's break, providing deflated Government MPs with a breather over the citizenship saga dogging the deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce.

The Government's determined to show it's getting on with business, this morning introducing two key bills into Parliament, one the increase of the Medicare levy to help pay for the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

The other, legislation allowing the roll out of the coalition's so-called cashless welfare card into new communities.

The cards quarantine 80 per cent of a recipients' welfare payments to be used on food and other essential items and can't be used to buy alcohol or fund gambling.

It's currently operating in two trial sites, Ceduna in South Australia and in Western Australia's East Kimberley.

The Human Services Minister Alan Tudge is responsible for this policy, he joined me earlier.

ALAN TUDGE: Good morning Sabra.

SABRA LANE: This bill to extend the program is being introduced today, you want to introduce the card into two new areas. When will you announce those new sites?

ALAN TUDGE: We'll be announcing those in the next few weeks, we've done a lot of work on the ground in those communities. And we're rolling them out in places where there is strong community support and where there is a demonstrable need for the card to be rolled out to.

As you pointed out, it's been operating in two communities already and we've had an independent evaluation as showing that it is having an impact on the ground, so we're keen to roll it out further.

SABRA LANE: The legislation I understand will the Government the ability to extend the card into many additional sites and it removes the expiry date of June 30th next year, allowing the card to continue indefinitely - is that right?

ALAN TUDGE: Yeah, that's right although the Parliament will still have oversight of where it operates because we'll have to put in what's called a disallowable instrument for each location. So the Parliament can scrutinise exactly where we roll out the card to and for what duration.

SABRA LANE: The Greens are opposed to this, now businessman and philanthropist Andrew Twiggy Forrest is called the Greens "a party of paedophiles" in response saying that this card is needed to stop the sexual abuse of young Aboriginal children. Is that fair?

ALAN TUDGE: Well certainly the Indigenous leaders in the communities where we have rolled it out to have strongly backed this card. In fact we have co-designed these trials with the Indigenous leaders. They have been calling for it in part because of the enormous damage which is done by alcohol fuelled, by welfare fuelled alcohol abuse.

So you're talking about child abuse, enormous rates of domestic violence, the assaults which all are fuelled by alcohol.

And if we're not fair dinkum about getting on top of the alcohol, we're never going to improve some of these communities and this card does have that impact of reducing that alcohol abuse.

The Greens have an ideological objection to this Sabra, it doesn't matter what we do in relation to this card, they are going to oppose it. It doesn't matter how much support we have from Indigenous leaders, they are going to oppose it.

SABRA LANE: I take your point but by labelling them a party of paedophiles, is that really -

ALAN TUDGE: ..that's not the language that I used Sabra, I mean we're in some respects I don't care what the Greens say. I'm working with the leaders on the ground in the local communities to try to address the very significant issues on the ground and this is having an impact.

It's not the panacea, but we are seeing alcohol consumption being reduced. We're seeing drug consumption reduced, we're seeing less gambling. We're seeing people who are saying they are better able to look after their children as a result.

SABRA LANE: Because the point of this card is that 80 per cent of the money has to be spent on essential, food etcetera, it can't be spent on gambling and alcohol and that sort of thing.

Now Mr Forrest's case for making this card, you know, allowing it to be extended into other areas. His case he's included a graphic video which was released last week showing the violence that happens in some Aboriginal communities. And in that video they're described as being like warzones, are they in your view?

ALAN TUDGE: I've spent a lot of time in these communities Sabra and I know you have as well and some of them are very damaged communities. Where the crime rate is off the charts, where the sexual assaults are off the charts, the assault rate of women is off the charts and a lot of that is fuelled by alcohol, paid for by the taxpayer.

SABRA LANE: Is it fair though to describe them as warzones? Pat Dodson, Labor's spokesman on this issue says they're not. They should be treated with respect and that shaming families is not going to help.

ALAN TUDGE: Again, it's not language that I would use, but I know that many of these communities which I have spent a lot of time in are very damaged communities, largely because of the alcohol abuse in those places and we've got to take this seriously. And anybody who does not think that alcohol is a problem in these communities, I think is deluding themselves.

And so this card, it's not the panacea, but it does stop a lot of the welfare dollars going towards the consumption of that alcohol, and that does have a positive impact on the broader communities. They community leaders themselves are telling us that, the police are telling us that, the church leaders are telling us that.

SABRA LANE: But you've got Senator Dodson saying an incentive driven approach is a better way than constant surveillance, do you agree?

ALAN TUDGE: Well this isn't constant surveillance, this in essence is a visa-debit card, it operates like any other visa debit card, with the only difference being that it doesn't work at the bottle shop. It doesn't work at the gambling houses and you can't take cash out from it. But otherwise you can use it at every single other location to purchase whatever you like.

So it's a very limited restriction and frankly the welfare dollar is not there to be used for the purchase of alcohol or for gambling or for drugs. It is there for the basics.

SABRA LANE: Some of the community say, "Give us the money", what you're spending on the trial and let us find the solutions. Like Matthew Slack from the Thalanyji Aboriginal Corporation says, you know, why not give them the money to do that. Have you considered that?

ALAN TUDGE: We've been working hand in glove with the community leaders in each of the trial communities, so I would encourage those people to speak to those key indigenous elders in those communities where it's operating because they are the ones that have co-designed these trials with us.

They are the ones that have co-designed these trials with us, they are the ones that have been stepping up in support in this and as of even last week, many of them were here, in Canberra, speaking to myself and the Prime Minister, saying that this card is working, saying that' it's reducing the domestic violence.

They are noticing the fact that people are purchasing trollies of food now rather than bags of food. All of these are very positive things.

SABRA LANE: Another bill's listed for debate today, the Medicare Levy increase to pay for the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Does this mean the Government is confident it's got the numbers to secure this through the Senate?

ALAN TUDGE: We are confident that we'll get it through the Parliament because it's the right thing to do Sabra. As many of your listeners will know, the Labor Party did not fund this properly, and we are proposing to do exactly that. The Labour Party in the past had supported this Medicare Levy increase, we are doing exactly what they had proposed in the past and we expect them to support it as well.